Quality Assessment of Agricultural Extension and Education Major as Perceived by Graduates of Tarbiat Modares University

Today, continues evalvation of research and education quality in higher education and specifically in agricultural education has a critical importance. The purpose of this study was to describe the application of quality assessment in Agricultural Extension and Education major at Tarbiat Modares University regarding job performance by the gradvates of this school. Five dimensions of quality were examined: the extent of perceived competencies learned from their graduate program, relevancy of courses content to job responsibilities, graduates satisfaction from courses completed, relevance of course's content to human resource development, and finally, perceived value of courses to the job market. The population for the study consisted of all students who graduated during1995-2005 (N=65). Data were collected using a survey. The instrument was assessed for content and face validity by a panel of experts consisting of senior faculty members in agricultural extension and education. Cornbach’s alpha, an internal consistency measure, was used to estimate the reliability, and was found to be in acceptable range from 0.78 to 0.88. The findings revealed that job effectiveness of Agricultural Education and Extension Graduates was at "medium" to "high" level. Graduates rated dissertation, seminar and research methods courses as having very high value to the job market. Graduates identified that familiarity with information technology such as internet is critical to human resource development. Recommendations were presented for improvement of educational activities regarding the five dimensions.